Vince sat in the chair by his mother’s bed. The signs were clear. They were watching the breaking news about the epidemic contagion that was captivating the nation and the world. The strained look on his mother’s face told the story. She was worried that she’d been infected.
Days ago, her fever spiked, and she started to become disoriented. For the past couple of hours, she continued to lose track of time and where she was. She could feel her mind coming unhinged, and she knew it would not be long before she lost grip with reality and all that she knew.
The national news channels all reported the widespread outbreak of the contagion. Certain areas seemed to be more affected than others, but the results were the same everywhere — unexplained retrograde amnesia was gripping the world. All humanity was forgetting who they were and whose they were — no one could seem to remember their loved ones, friends or even their names.
Vince thought that if he could keep talking to her, somehow, she would be able to fight the inevitable. His son, Milo stood by taking in all the drama. His mom’s family photo album was at the foot of the bed — the family was pulling out all the stops to fight the unknown.
“Son, where are you?” His mom trembled uncontrollably. “Son, come here and sit near me.” Vince got to his feet and made his way over to his mother’s side. She was drenched in sweat. Vince held her as tight as he could. It reminded him of the times when he needed comfort as a small child. He started to weep. His mother nodded for a bit and drifted off to sleep. Vince could tell that her fever broke.
When she awoke, she seemed disoriented. Vince assumed that her behavior was a continuation of the long days they’d already endured, but something seemed different. When he went over to try to calm her down, she recoiled.
“Who are you? I’ve been abducted! Where have you taken me?” She started screaming. The family got her calmed down, but she still did not recognize her surroundings. Vince tried to show her the photo album, but she seemed even more confused looking at the pictures of her younger self with people who were no more than strangers. The defining moment of the disease came when Vince realized that she no longer remembered who she was. She started to sob, and with reluctance and in desperation reached for her son. She realized that she’d lost everything, and Vince realized that he’d lost his mom.
During this heart-wrenching drama, Milo cowered in a corner and tried to entertain and distract himself with video games and his cell phone. The grownup world was too complicated and melancholy for him to comprehend. He did not have the emotional stamina to stay engaged with everything he’d overheard.
Vince could see the raw, unearthed personality of his mother. She was like an exposed bare wire; a bundle of nerves and emotions, but there was no substance and no tapestry to her life. She had no past and an uncertain future.
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Vince walked over to the window and stared at the mountain landscape. He was transfixed with the beauty. He didn’t know how widespread the contagion was, but he realized two things in that moment; that he wanted his mother back, and he wanted to make sure his son was safe. Vince realized that he could not do both — if he stayed around to help re-educate his mother, he would be risking his son’s health by potentially exposing him to the disease if it were airborne in nature.
Vince opened his laptop and tried to find out everything he could about the disease. Everything on the news was focused on sensationalizing the contagion. The facts were sketchy about why and how the disease started. He had to know more about it if he had any chance of protecting his son. Vince called his aunt, explained the situation and asked if she’d come over and look after her sister. Vince and Milo took the hour-long drive back to his house. He would come up with a plan of attack from there.
“Breaking News…the sweeping contagion causing retrograde amnesia across the country seems to have originated in a hospital in a suburb outside of New York. This scientist was in the final stages of human testing with a revolutionary treatment related to Alzheimer’s and dementia. There were two cases of patients who made a remarkable recovery. Their family members started experiencing strange symptoms and succumbed to amnesia. There appears to be a direct link to the contagion and the individuals in the test study of the drug. The scientist responsible for the treatment is working on an antidote. More details to follow…”
A suburb? What suburb? How many test subjects were there? Vince’s mind was racing. His choice was clear. Either he was going to sit back and wait for a solution or he was going to find the person with the antidote before the contagion took the life of his son.
His son Milo interrupted his trance and asked him a question that shook him to his core.
“Daddy, are you going to get sick, too? Will you forget who I am like grandma did?”
Vince never thought about the possibility that he would get the disease. If he succumbed, who would take care of his son?
“No son, I am going to make sure nothing happens to us.” Vince walked his son over to the dinner table. While he made sandwiches for their dinner, Milo chatted incessantly about a variety of subjects important to a 10-year old boy his age.
Later that evening, Vince decided against plane travel — he did not want to take the chance that the pilot would forget his training in mid-flight. He didn’t know enough about the contagion to take that risk. He stayed up that evening and made plans to drive to New York. Vince’s race against time and fate officially started that fateful day in November.
Meanwhile, in Arkansas, a meeting was about to end. A group of men and women were deeply concerned about the same news report Vince saw. They did not want an antidote found; they believed this was God’s will for the world to find its way and right itself.
They were willing and able to do whatever it took to bury the serum and the scientist.
